October cycle tour map

October cycle tour map

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Killarney

Well here we are at Killarney about 20km west of Warrnambool on the coast.  We were here at the end of November/beginning of December last year.  this is a lovely place and we vowed we would come here again ... and here we are.  We drove here with Dad in tow and arrived on Monday thinking that the park might empty out as it was the last day of the long weekend and also the end of the Port Fairy festival.  There were still a few people around but we managed to get a spot.

we have the shade shelter up but unfortunately we have also had strong winds so we had to take it down and seek refuge at the bbq area for shade!
Monday night dad tries his hand at fishing ...
 
with a little help from Kouta although Kouta is very much like my Mum ... hates sand, the beach and water! as you can see from the photo below - Kouta is running away from neil!
 
here is dad fishing again .. not sure if he is awake?  he caught "tinned tuna"
 
Tuesday saw us riding to Port Fairy via some of the Rail Trail that runs between Warrnambool to Port Fairy.  It is a nice trail and we joined it around 12km before Port Fairy.  It is a nice trail and isn't made up of Lilydale topping like most rail trails instead it is compacted clay and in some places with quite big gravel.  The part we were on had quite a lot of cracks running in the middle of the path (almost like a white line on a road to divide the path into left and right!).
 
We get to Port Fairy and dad went fishing again to try to get some more of that 'tinned tuna' fish while Neil and I hung around the IGA and the park.  It was quite a hot day and we began to head back home when dad found he had a flat front tyre.  So he changed it and we got going.
 
Heading back home I look at dads rear tyre and see that it is almost flat so we pump it up a few times to get us back to Killarney.  By the time we got home it is hot so we go down to the beach to try to cool off.  The water is very cold and we decide we will go in tomorrow as it is going to be hot again!  in other words we chicken out! although Neil does manage to get his toes wet!
 
where as Kouta gets an absolute soaking as he didn't get away from the wave quick enough and manages to get his belly wet ....
 
as you can see he is not a happy dog!
It is a warm night - the type where it is too hot under the sleeping bag and too cold outside it!  but Neil did manage to get me while I was asleep this morning ... believe it or not it is around 7.30am when he took this so I am sleeping later - I hope we get out of this habit when we start cycling otherwise we will become like dad and not get going for cycling until 10am!!!
 
today we decide to go to Koroit - I have never been there and neither has Neil- we have passed by it alot!  So we rejoin the rail trail and to the other way and back to Koroit.
 
we take a break at the old railway station ...
 
and then pop into town for some food.  While Neil is in the IGA I take a photo of dad next to probably something that is based on his ancestry ... yep the good ole spudpicker statue!
 
 
Killarney and Koroit is very Irish and there is an Irish festival here in April ... I think dad liked this place!  And it wasn't long before we found a street that had our name ....

O'Briens Lane was on our way to Tower Hill lookout ...
 
there is not much water in this crater so all the photos we see of this place is very misleading - not sure how the water gets in there - I don't think it is river or creek fed - maybe rainfall?  Below is a photo looking towards Port Fairy and you can see the other side of the lake has water.
 
Got back and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the bbq shelter shade as it was too hot but Neil and I did manage to have a swim - the water is very cold but once in it was okay!
While in the shade we were entertained by a hawk that was hunting all the crickets that are hopping everywhere ...
 
it was only a wee small thing but it was successful and once or twice it was chased by a willy wagtail bird which kept pecking at it while they were in flight - now for the kiwis a willy wagtail is a bit like a fantail type bird - it looked funny a small bird chasing and hassling a hawk!
Tomorrow Dad and Neil drive to Yambuk while Kouta and I might ride there (approx 30 odd kms) we are not too sure if there is going to be rain so maybe we will have to squeeze into the car again!